College Sports

Zac Larraza, the third-youngest player on the DU roster, has five goals and 13 points in his last seven games.

Since being selected by his hometown Phoenix Coyotes in the 2011 NHL draft, this will be the most ink or online exposure Zac Larraza has seen.

The white-hot University of Denver sophomore forward has seen more valleys than the Grand Canyon State since joining the Pioneers three months after the Coyotes made him one of Arizona's most popular hockey prospects.

"Sometimes you think everything is laid out for you, and then you quickly realize that's not going to happen," said Larraza, a gifted athlete who was known to throw 85 mph fastballs and catch touchdown passes in the corner of the end zone as a high school freshman and sophomore.

Larraza, a product of the Phoenix-based P.F. Chang's triple-A organization and prestigious U.S. national development program in Ann Arbor, Mich., has grown into a 6-foot-3, 195-pound key contributor for DU, producing five goals and eight points in his past seven games. He leads the Pioneers with a plus-12 rating, a statistic that speaks highly to his role. He doesn't play on the power play and his role is to be a physical, defensive-minded forward who creates room for his teammates.

DU coach George Gwozdecky said Larraza's scoring spree is a bonus, and that he must continue to learn how to use his body to become a complete hockey player capable of earning an entry-level contract with the Coyotes when he graduates or decides to turn pro.

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"You're seeing some positive results," Gwozdecky said. "It has taken him a while to adjust to the role that we've asked him to play, and I think he's conscious of what he needs to work on."

Larraza's progress as a burgeoning big-league power forward from the desert hit a freshman speed bump last season. It took him 24 games to score his first NCAA goal. Although it was a big one — an overtime winner against Minnesota Duluth that sent the Pioneers to their conference playoff championship game — he was humbled in his first year of college hockey.

Most players from Ann Arbor's USNDP — otherwise known as the American teenage all-star module — advance to NCAA or major-junior stardom, and many make it to the NHL.

"That program is a huge help. You play a ton of college teams, but regardless of who it is, coming into your freshman year, it's a tough transition," said DU junior center Nick Shore, also a USNDP graduate. "It takes some people time to get accustomed to the college game. Zac is obviously a very talented player and we all knew it was a matter of time to begin playing at the level he's been playing at lately."

Shore, who leads DU with 25 points in 25 games, amassed a modest seven goals as an 18-year-old freshman. That same season, classmate Jason Zucker, a fellow USNDP grad, produced 23 goals for DU and was named WCHA rookie of the year.

The USNDP fields only 18-under and 17-under teams, with their players attending an Ann Arbor high school. The majority of college players don't begin their freshman season before playing at least one year of junior-A after graduating from high school. Thus, Larraza can't be accused of being a late bloomer.

"You go into Ann Arbor and every kid is pretty much the best player from their team back home, but you still go there and you're thinking, 'I'm going to be a scorer like I was back home,' " Larraza said. "But that's not normally how it works.

"And from that team and coming to Denver, you're like 'Oh, I'll play every night like I did there.' But you have to work for your points, your ice time. You have to find your role."

Larraza has had the benefit of being the son of a hockey guy. Alan Larraza is from Detroit and played club hockey at Arizona State University. Zac said he enjoyed playing baseball and football, but felt lured to hockey as the popularity of the sport grew in Arizona. He said there are approximately seven public ice rinks in metro Phoenix, twice as many as he remembers as a kid learning to skate at the Ice Den in Scottsdale.

"Nothing like getting out on the ice with your friends," Larraza said. "And there's nothing like the pace of the game. How fast it is. Watching it, playing it. Hockey is by far the best."

Arizona, hockey hotbed?

Arizona has joined Colorado and California as western states producing NHL-caliber talent. Here are five interesting Arizona-raised players, who played for P.F. Chang's Triple-A organization, with big-league potential:

F J.T. Barnett (Scottsdale, Ariz.) Kelowna, Western Hockey League
Comment: The son of Mike Barnett, former agent for Wayne Gretzky and Coyotes GM, is in his fifth year in the Canadian Hockey League system.

F Colten St. Clair (Gilbert, Ariz.) North Dakota, NCAAComment: Extreme climate change for the UND freshman forward, who has played in 24 of 26 games after three years with the Fargo Force (junior-A).

D Derik Johnson (Phoenix) Minnesota-Duluth, NCAAComment: Sophomore is the son of Jim Johnson, former NHL defenseman who founded P.F. Chang's Hockey Program and is its top coach.

F Zac Larraza (Scottsdale) Denver, NCAAComment: Lanky sophomore left wing is sizzling with Pioneers after a slow start. Selected by the hometown Coyotes in the 2011 NHL draft.

F Henrik Samuelsson (Scottsdale) Edmonton, WHLComment: Son of Ulf Samuelsson (1,080 career NHL games) and Coyotes' No. 1 draft pick last June has team-high 61 points in 51 games for Oil Kings.

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